Shadow Blade (シャドーブレード,Shadō Burēdo?) is Shadow Man's primary weapon. The Shadow Blade is a large shuriken that can be shot in 5 different directions (left, right, diagonally up and right, diagonally up and left and straight up). In Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters, the directions are reduced to four, being unable to be shot straight up. The Shadow Blade has a relatively short range, as it boomerangs back. Unlike when Shadow Man uses it, Mega Man can only throw one Shadow Blade at a time.

For Kamegoro Maker, a certain amount of damage will be taken from the health meter for each of the five Kamegoros produced, regardless of which weapon the player uses against them. Each Kamegoro has 3 health.

Capacity

Two Shadow Blades can be used by one weapon energy unit in Mega Man 3 and Mega Man III, and one Shadow Blade uses one unit in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters. With a full energy gauge, it can be used 56 times in Mega Man 3, 38 times in Mega Man III, and 16 times in Mega Man 2: The Power Fighters.

Exploit

In the NES version of Mega Man 3, the player can use Shadow Blade endlessly by changing the weapon after each shot, avoiding an energy unit being used by the second Shadow Blade. This issue was fixed in later releases like Mega Man: The Wily Wars.

Other appearances

The Shadow Blade appears in the fighting game Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS / Wii U as a custom move for his neutral special, Metal Blade. It must be unlocked before it can be swapped out.

Mega Man throws a Shadow Blade, which can be thrown in eight directions like the Metal Blade- unlike Mega Man 3, where he can only throw them in five directions. It deals 2% damage per hit by default, can hit multiple times unlike the Metal Blade, and is less susceptible to being used against Mega Man, since cannot stick to the ground or be picked up. Its range is considerably shorter than the Metal Blade as in the main series, but it boomerangs back to the point where it was thrown, making it effective for opponents that are in its way when it returns, as well as for pulling them towards Mega Man for close-range attacks.

Other media

Shadow Blade was frequently used by Shadow Man, especially during his fight against Mega Man. After Mega Man managed to copy his Shadow Blade ability, he used it to take down both Magnet Man and Spark Man. When infiltrating Wily's third castle via the sewers, Mega Man briefly adopted the use of Shadow Blade to take down a Kamegoro Master, while monologuing about his determination that there will not be any more betrayals, or any more fighting against other Robots.